


When the World Falls Apart

by SydWritesSickfics



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Apocalypse, F/M, Manipulation, Poison, Sick Character, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-08-28 14:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16724781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SydWritesSickfics/pseuds/SydWritesSickfics
Summary: We put ourselves back together.----------------------------When a disease kills most of the population, there's plenty of things that could possibly kill you. The disease, lack of supplies, people who'd kill you for them.Or maybe, an infected child you find in the woods.And so, when David finds Max with a note claiming there's an antidote in the city, they set off to find it, along with Gwen, a skilled fighter from the wasteland.  Through various issues, people, and surprises along the way, they attempt to make their way to the city, and hopefully find an end to this hell of an apocalypse.





	1. Chapter 1

As he heard rapid footsteps coming towards him, David decided that coming out today might not have been a good idea.

He went out to get some berries and water. It was a fairly simply task, only having to go a short distance to a nearby stream. Today, however, it proved to be rather difficult. As today, someone had decided to try and attack him.

He looked around, desperately trying to find somewhere to hide. He wasn’t prepared to fight someone. He would get killed in an instant. And so, as the footsteps got louder and louder as they got nearer, he ran behind the closest overgrown shrub. He knew it wasn’t good shelter, but it was the best one he could find in his haste.

He stood there, frozen, attempting to be as quiet as possible. This wasn’t a new situation, not at all. But it didn’t matter how many times it happened, he still panicked every time.

The footsteps started to get softer, and he guessed that they left when he couldn’t hear them anymore. Warily peeking out from his hiding place, he breathed a sigh of relief when there wasn’t a sign of whoever was there. However, as he stood up and dusted himself off, he found himself presented with a new problem.

There was a child in the woods.

He stood there, seemingly looking for something he knew wasn’t there. David shuddered, gaze falling straight to the telltale patches snaking up his chest, bright and angry red. He knew he couldn’t leave him there, and thus, he hesitantly walked up to him.

“What’s your name?” he asked, offering an attempt at a reassuring smile. He gave his name, words clipped with an already present hint of annoyance. David looked around, frowning when he didn’t see anyone with him.

“Max. Where are your parents?” He didn’t expect an answer, to be fair. He had thought that he was lost, with maybe a general idea where his parents were. He watched, the color quickly draining from his face as Max nonchalantly pointed back to a point farther in the forest to a large fire.

He could smell the strong stench of death from there.

Max didn’t even seem scared, or upset, or anything that could indicate that this affected him at all. He just seemed numb. There was a note in his hand, which he was holding so close to him you would have though it was gold. David was hesitant to ask to take it, but he was obviously looking at it, proven by the fact that Max was currently shoving it into his hand. “If you wanted to read it so much, you should’ve just asked,” he said, a small scowl already forming on his face.

He looked over it as quickly as possible, confusion increasing the more he read. It was written in a messy scrawl, as well as being crumpled to no end. An unfinished signature of what David guessed was Max’s parents sat at the bottom. That wasn’t what got him, nor even the beginning, asking whoever had found Max to take of care of him, if possible. No, what had gotten him was a panicked, quickly written ending claiming that there was an antidote in Calegrave.

An antidote. What he would have done for that almost a decade ago. Had this actually been going on for a decade? He paused for a moment before brushing it off. He had no reason to trust these people. How hard was it to write that? But some part of him believed them, wanted to believe them. 

He gave the note back to Max, who quickly brought it as close to him as he could. He paused for a moment, looking around the area. No one else was around, and he gave a small sigh. He didn’t want to abandon the kid in the woods, but there was a huge risk involved. A risk that’s worth it, he decided.

“Alright, Max. You can’t stay out here, it’s too dangerous. My house is around here, and it’s good shelter. Are you okay going over there for a bit while we try to figure this out?”

“It’s not like I have any better options.” He quickly stuffed the note into his jacket pocket, making sure it was safe before they set out.

They ran back to his house as fast as they could. Everything down to the barren trees and biting air seemed more threatening than usual, and every sound down to sticks crunching underneath their feet made them jump. The distance from the forest to his house seemed disproportionately long, and they seemed to be just as far away no matter how much they ran. When they finally got there, David slowly pushed open the door, hoping desperately for it to be quiet as it gave a long, low creak. As he stepped inside, his stomach dropped.. His dad stood across the room, likely being able to hear whatever sound, like a door—or a kid. 

He quickly shooed Max back into his room, trying desperately to be as silent. His dad, turning around from where he was cooking dinner in their small kitchen, gave him a quick smile. "You're back. Did you get anything?" David nodded, holding up a half-full thermos and some berries. 

His dad seemed satisfied, starting to return to cooking when a large crash rang out from David's bedroom, causing him to freeze. "What was that?"

"It was… something falling! Yes, um, my… pen fell. I better go pick it up” he said, avoiding eye contact the entire time and his voice rising about three octaves as he spoke.Running off before he could be questioned further, he quickly slammed shut his door, barricading it the best he could before looking to see what had caused the noise, He looked around, unable to find anything that had dropped.

Until he saw Max, laying face down on the floor. 

“What was the noise?” he asked. He already knew the answer, but he wanted so desperately to be wrong. He wanted something to have dropped and made such a loud sound, rather than Max having done so. Still, his suspicions were confirmed whenever Max spoke again. 

"I fell," he said, sharply, starting to push himself up to the bed.

“You fell?”

“Yeah. I stood up to walk around a bit, got dizzy and fell.”

David frowned, but decided not to push any further. Instead, he started collecting things around his room. They had to make it to Calegrave, and they weren’t going to do it without supplies, no matter how minimal. He packed all he thought he needed from his room before realizing he would have to go out and face his dad to get some food to pack. He paused, taking a deep breath before turning to Max.

"I'll be right back. Pack up whatever you need, and we’ll get going when I get back with some food." He plastered on a reassuring smile, the same one he wore whenever he met Max, before moving to leave.

Taking away all the things blocking his door, he crept to the kitchen, breathing a sigh of relief when his dad was nowhere to be seen. He took around half of the food he could bring, shoving it into his bag. When he thought it was done, he took a step back to his room. A step was as far as he could get, as he was stuck in place after a distinct voice came running through the house, normally so welcoming, but now, it was the last thing he wanted to hear. 

"So... what fell?" he asked, eyes narrowing, obvious suspicion all over his face. He started walking toward David, causing him to hide his bag as quickly as possible, to no avail. "Or, would you rather tell me what you're doing with that bag?". He didn't want to lie, especially considering how terrible it had gone last time. Instead, he said quickly under his breath what was going on.

“What was that?”

He took a deep breath before speaking again, slightly louder this time. “I took in an infected child and I’m going to try to make it to Calegrave for an antidote.”

That went about as well as he had expected. “You’re what? What part of that plan sounds even slightly smart?”

“I know, but-”

“When was the last time someone from this side of the wasteland made it to Calegrave and came back alive?”

“Never, but-”

“Why don’t you send that child off to someone who can take him, and you will stay here, where it’s safe, okay?”

“He’ll die if I send him off!” 

“And you’ll die if you don’t!” His dad paused, turning back to where he was. David rushed to apologize, though was quickly cut off. “I can’t stop you from going, but you need to understand that you’re more likely to die than not out there. I already lost your mother to this disease and the disaster it left. I can’t lose you too.” His voice had softened, almost pleading now.

David paused, taking in a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Dad.” he said “but we’re going to Calegrave. We have to try.”

His dad sighed, sitting back down on the couch. “I can’t stop you. Just try your best not to get killed, alright? Find someone who can fight.” he gave small laugh. “You never wanted to learn. Always hated setting traps and everything.”

David gave a small smile, though it didn’t last long. “I will. I promise. Goodbye” he went over to the couch, giving his dad a long hug.

“Goodbye.”

He pulled away, stopping by the kitchen to get all the food he dared to take before going back to his room, where Max was still sitting on the bed.\

“Let’s go.”

“What? I thought you were just gonna kick me out.”

“If there’s any chance that there’s an antidote, it’s a chance I’m willing to fight for. Now come on!” He didn’t mean to be pushy, but he really didn’t want to be out in the open when night fell.

Max got up and grabbed his miniscule amount of stuff, though he still seemed confused. “Where are we going?” he asked, following behind David as they left the house. David was silent for a moment before responding.

“The wasteland.”


	2. Chapter 2

She heard a noise outside.

She could have been hallucinating it, of course. It wouldn’t be the first time paranoia had left her flinching at every sound she sensed anywhere close to her, real or otherwise, and it sure wouldn’t be the last. Still, when she had heard the unmistakable sound of talking on the other side of the wall, she grabbed a nearby weapon and started sneaking as quietly as she could towards the entrance.

People didn’t usually come here. The last time anyone had come around was god knows how long ago, and even then they had left almost immediately. But she could still hear muted conversation, getting louder and louder the closer she got, and she got ready to retreat. 

As much as she hated leaving, she had to, every once in a while. To get food, mostly, but occasionally something else. However, before she could even start to check outside, light flooding in from the open door left her scattering back into the shadows as quietly as she could. The large pile of her belongings that she had fallen onto wasn’t where she would have  _ preferred  _ to be, but it gave her a good enough view without being seen. Squinting at who had come in, she could barely make out a silhouette.

And when her brain caught up to who that silhouette was, it took all of her energy not to scream.

It was all too familiar, an ominous reminder of a memory from long ago that she couldn’t forget, no matter how much she had tried. After all, how could she? She was a starry eyed, naive little child, not even 20 yet, lured in with the promise of shelter and safety and company, only to be tricked and barely escaping putrid purple poison slipping down her throat.

She shuddered. The panic racing in her heart and screamed at her with every second, every labored breath as she bit back any kind of noise. It had to be him. He had come back for her, and as much as she would like to deny it, her heart hammering fast in her chest screamed that she was still terrified of him with each pulse. They were seemingly identical, save for the clothes, but how hard was it to get some torn up clothes? They were in nearly every house, if you had the indecency to even try and rob from the dead. 

“Hello?” he called, walking further into the darkened warehouse. He didn’t sound quite like him, but she didn’t trust her memory. “Is anybody here?” She planned on simply hiding until he either got the hint and left, or found her and got through with the inevitable. She planned on simply letting life take its course, as she had since this entire awful apocalypse had started. She remembered a time when something like this was a dystopian fiction, a backdrop to an adventure.

Now it was real life.

Peering on at him, she watched, bewildered, as he backed himself against the wall. Perhaps he thought she was still the scared, defenseless child she appeared to be when they had last met. Simply having him in the place that had kept her safe left her seeing red, and where he was gave her the perfect position for revenge.

She slinked out of the shadows, taking a lighter as she walked by. Knife shaking in her hand, she pressed it up against his neck, a sense of twisted satisfaction waiting to be unleashed upon looking up and seeing those cold blue eyes filled with nothing but terror.

Well, she saw the terror. But the eyes were not his.

_ This was not him _ .

Oh, no. She had threatened some random person, almost killed some random person, because she thought she had looked like  _ him.  _ She almost dropped what she was holding out of pure relief and regret. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

She lit the lighter, careful to hold it so that it wouldn’t burn them. She took the knife from his throat, though she didn’t loosen her tight grip on the handle. “Who are you?” was all she could force out, her voice that of thinly veiled fear hidden under the guise of whispers and interrogation.

He seemed frozen for a moment, too scared to speak, or breathe for the matter. She was sure her own demeanor didn’t help, but there was no way she was letting her guard down. Not until it was over.

“D-David.” he choked out, voice trembling with the rest of him. “I need your help.”

Help? She almost laughed out loud. Nobody helped anybody out here. Help was a one way ticket to ‘kill or be killed’. In her mind, anyway. Besides, what could he possibly want that she could give? Before she even said a word, he was explaining himself.

“We won’t survive for long without someone who can fight, and I can’t, and I’ve heard you can, and we really need your help, and-”

She cut him off. “What do you mean by 'we’?”

Any kind of confidence in his pitch vanished from his face. “Well, I took in a sick child, and-”

She cut him off, eyes widening and pure dread flooding her. “You what?!” she yelled as loudly as she dared. “You plan to not only get to Calegrave, but to take one of the contaminated with you? That’s a death wish!”

“I know, but I couldn’t just leave him! I heard there’s an antidote, and even if it’s not true, I have to try.” He gave a small smile, seemingly entirely genuine, genuine hope underneath it.

Not manufactured and made to look real.

She knew it was a terrible idea. David was a terrible idea, and so was this contaminated child. She knew that going on this little adventure would no doubt get her killed. And yet, considering everything that’s happened and is happening, she was saying yes before she had the chance to change her mind.

His smile got even bigger, if that was even possible. Before she knew it, lanky arms were being wrapped around her and he was closer than anyone had been to her in years and-

Right. This is what closeness felt like. She had almost forgotten. He said a small thank you before he pulled away, and she let go 

“I’m Gwen, by the way. You should probably know that before we go. Do you have a bag?” He offered up a small, makeshift satchel, in which she shoved as many weapons as possible into. As the door opened yet again, and long rays of sunlight made their way through the crack, able to illuminate the entire dusty and dirty warehouse, she found herself feeling something that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

She felt hopeful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ending up being shorter than I originally thought it would be. Oops. If you came here from my Tumblr, you might have already seen an early version of this chapter that I posted for Gwenvid Week. Also, y'all have no idea how much I wanted to post this earlier. I have the next chapter already written, but I have no idea where I'm going with the next one so it's going up next Saturday. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

They left for the closest town shortly after, mostly walking in silence with the occasional attempt at conversation from David. It didn’t take them long, as it wasn’t that far to the town, but the sun was still starting to set, the blue sky starting to fade into an array of colors as they passed the buildings.

 

They quickly ducked into the closest house they could find, fear of whatever lurked in the dark overtaking whatever desire they had of exploring. The house wasn’t particularly welcoming. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, with dust having settled across every surface and dirt clinging to whatever it could. It didn’t seem devoid of life, per se. Rather, it seemed like it had left the shadow of life behind.

 

Somehow, that was worse.

 

David and Gwen disappeared to go set this place up to sleep for the night, leaving Max in the entry room alone. He looked around, picking at things and trying to leave whatever mark he had on the empty place. It wasn’t that hard. He picked up a small toy from the corner of the kitchen, a small car buried under the fridge and absolutely filthy like the rest of house. A quick dust gave some color to the car, once obnoxiously bright blue and yellow paint long since faded together. He turned it over in his hands, almost searching it for anything else.

 

He was taken from his focus by David over his shoulder. “What do you have there?” he asked, far too cheerfully for the situation. 

  
“Oh, it’s just a… toy car. I used to have one like it. It’s nothing, really.” He placed it back under the fridge where he had found it, stuffing his hands into his pockets and falling back onto the couch. David simply opened a few doors, eventually grabbing a few blankets from a closet before leaving to the bedroom once again. He absent-mindedly played with some loose strings, not having much to do other than sit.

 

He wasn’t dead. That was something, he guessed. His parents were dead and burned, which sucks ass. He grabbed at their note in his pocket, gripping it once again. There was more to it that, he knew. But he didn’t care to think about it. He didn’t have the time, between trying to get an antidote and having to fight whatever’s come to kill him that day. How anyone had the time to think about anything amazed him.

 

And yet, here he was. He tried to focus on anything else than the inevitable thought his brain kept trying to result to, and he succeeded. For long enough, at least. Right when he thought he had run out of thing to avoid it with, David and Gwen popped out to tell him that the bedroom was ready for the night. 

 

The bedroom wasn’t much more inviting than the rest of the house. Along with being dirty and completely lacking of everything that characterized life, all that sat there was a long since busted dresser with a shattered mirror, a ratty rug, and two beds sat newly made against the wall. He frowned, setting his small amount of stuff down beside one of the beds before kicking off his shoes and getting in. He didn’t realize how tired he was until he was out the second he laid down.

 

——

 

When he woke up the next morning, it was still dark outside. He laid back down, trying to get as much sleep as he possibly could. However, when it became apparent he wasn’t getting back to sleep, he got up, still rubbing sleep from heavy-lidded eyes. 

 

David and Gwen were still fast asleep in the other bed, which Max chose to not read much into. Too much time left on this trip to think about that. He shuffled as quietly as he could into the other room, wincing as the door was far too loud as it opened. He squinted through the darkness, his eyes not adjusting quite fast enough. Whenever they did, he didn’t do much but walk around for a while. He sat down on the couch a few times, only to get back up soon after. He was about to go back to bed and just lay there when he remembered the toy car.

 

Fishing it out from under the fridge again, he examined it once more. It looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it. He looked around for what it could be, only finding the same lifeless decorations he had seen too much since he’d gotten here. He grabbed around the same area he had found the car, this time producing another one, black and white in color. He looked at the two toys in his hands, trying to place where he’d seen them from.

 

_ “Come on, Max! We can’t win the race if we don’t practice!” _

 

_ “It’s a toy car race. All that matters is if we push it the hardest.” _

 

_ “It’ll be fun! Besides, pushing it the hardest is a skill, arguably-” _

 

_ “Shut up. I’ll practice with you, alright? But you owe me some of your candy after that.” _

 

He gave a small smile, before almost immediately dropping it. They had won the race, but he’d moved away a few weeks afterwards. Max didn’t want to play with his cars that much anymore after that.    
  


_ “It sucks that you’re leaving. But here! As a going away present, you can have my car. It’s kinda broken after the race, but it still works fine! I’ll miss you.” _

 

He rolled it on the ground, watching as it glided across the floor and hit the wall. He picked up the cars, tucking them in his pocket before going back to the bedroom and stuffing them into his bag. He got back into bed, falling asleep after a bit.

 

His dream was that of toy cars and old friends.

 

——

 

When he had woken up next, the sun shone bright outside, filtering through ripped curtains. He lifted his arm to his face to cover his eyes, turning over for a moment before he realized what that meant. The sun was out. It was daytime. And so, they had to get moving towards Calegrave. He grabbed his things, with a stolen glance to the other bed revealing it was empty. He entered the other room, joining David and Gwen at the table. He caught the tail end of their conversation before he sat down.

  
“I’m not saying that we’ll immediately get killed, but I am saying that the assholes that live there have no hesitation to do so.” Gwen said, distress ever present on her face.

 

“I know.” David said, oddly somber from what Max had seen from him. “But we have to go by there. It’s the only way we can make it to Calegrave. And we  _ have  _ to make it to Calegrave.”

They noticed Max. The conversation halted.

 

“Hey” Gwen said, extending the word to the point where it was uncomfortable. “You’re up.”

 

“You ready for a new day of adventure, Max!” 

 

Max looked at the shining sun outside before glaring at David. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I know what we’re doing. Let’s go.”

 

David looked between Max and Gwen, who simply shrugged. “Alright.” She pushed out her chair, standing up and starting towards the door with Max in tow. David grabbed the bag sitting next to his chair before following.

 

The rest of the town seemed as deserted as the house was, but Max seemed to look for something in every small thing they had passed. It wasn’t a big town. This particular road took around fifteen minutes to walk down before they reached the border of the town. Max glanced back wistfully and David and Gwen checked the bag one last time before they left. They walked further, the sun slowly setting as the walked further into the barren land.  

 

And they were almost to safety when they spotted something lurking in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly surprised that this chapter came out as well as it did. we're entering uncharted territory, where my outline cannot follow. I hope you're enjoying, but if it seems like I don't know what I"m doing, you know why lmao


	4. Chapter 4

They immediately tried to find somewhere to hide. They couldn’t make it to the nearest building without whatever was near them being able to attack them. Gwen rummaged through the bag for her knife, gripping it so hard that her knuckles turned white. She shooed David and Max behind her, and started approaching. She walked hesitantly into the brush that hid whatever was staying there. David and Max watched in fear and anticipation as she disappeared into the darkness.

 

“Goddamnit!”

 

She came back into sight, an angry platypus biting into her leg. She kicked it off, frowning as it hissed at her before running back off into the woods. 

 

“What the fuck was that?” Max tried to look for it again before giving up, as it was long past gone.

 

“That was a platypus! They’re the only mammals that lay eggs, along with-” David began, quickly being cut off.

 

“It doesn’t matter.” Gwen said, each word short and sharp, being punctuated with a tired sigh. “The sun’s almost down, and we have to find shelter before then. Look,  there’s a trailer just over there. Seems to be in semi-decent shape too. We can stay there for the night.”

 

They set off, reaching the trailer within a minute or two. Gwen grabbed at the handle, frowning upon the door remaining shut despite repeated attempts. She was about to try and break it open when she was knocked back by the door opening from the inside.

 

When she looked up, there was another person standing there. 

 

They stood tall in the doorway, a large coat hiding them from sight. They simply motioned them inside, not speaking a word as they did so.

 

David, Gwen, and Max stood silent for a moment, skepticism hidden in stolen glances and tentative smiles. Finally, David spoke, trying to seem as confident as he could.

 

“Come on! This stranger is offering us shelter for the night. We should be grateful. Thank you!” He said, walking inside the trailer, where Gwen and Max followed slowly behind. 

 

“There’s no way he thinks this is a good idea.” Max whispered as they entered.

 

Gwen gave a small frown. “Knowing what I know about David, he might.” She said, long since resigned.

 

The trailer, which had seemed cozy as they had seen it from afar, not seemed suffocating. The stranger went into the next room over, still remaining silent. Gwen sat on the couch, almost hovering above the cushion. Meanwhile, Max simply fell onto the couch beside her.

 

She looked at the door the stranger had left through, her head starting to spin. There was another person here. She didn’t think there were that many left, much less that she’d see any this early on. Though, they did seem fairly creepy, to be fair. Why did they wear that coat?

 

She stood up, starting to look around. For as cramped as the place was, a small fireplace still managed to stay lit in the corner, shining bright through the darkness that flooded the place. She turned back to Max, only to find him asleep on the couch. She took the blanket that laid across the back and laid it on him before leaving to the other bedroom where David had fallen asleep as well. She kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed, a small part of her cuddling closer to the warmth next to her.

 

——

 

She woke up to Max yelling at her. She sat up, trying to wake up enough to focus on what he was saying. She had only caught a few words, but one of them was enough to leave her scrambling. “What?”

 

“Something caught on fire.” he said. His voice was loud, though not seemingly panicked enough for the situation. She peeked out the door, and sure enough, the flames from the fireplace had swept to the rug nearby. Smoke had already started to choke the air, and the fire was quickly spreading.

 

She turned to David, frantically shaking him awake. “Come on! We have to go!”

 

He rubbed his eyes, just as confused as she was. “What?”   
  
She didn’t have the clear-headedness to say much else other than a quick “fire”. He seemed to have gotten the message though, and shot up. “Alright. This is fine! We just have to get out of here, and get whoever lives here out safely, and we’ll be okay!” The words were so obviously an attempt to maintain optimistic, but neither Max nor Gwen bothered to take him up on it. Instead, they simply listened as David instructed them on what to do. 

  
They crawled to the door as quickly as they could, trying not to inhale any of the smoke hanging ominously above them and jumping at everything that had fallen by them as they moved, bright and flaming and deadly. Gwen’s heart raced in her chest, and she couldn’t tell if the tears pricking in her eyes was from the fire or from the fear.

 

David burst open the front door, and Max and Gwen immediately followed him outside. Everyone took in a sharp breath of fresh air as soon as they could get it. David turned back towards inside, and Gwen frowned. “Where are you going? That places is in flames, you can’t go back in.”

 

David took a deep breath of the clean air outside. “Someone’s still in there. I have to get them! I’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll be back, lickety split!” He disappeared back into the trailer, that was already falling apart and burning into ashes.

 

There was a long silence, interrupted only by coughing from Gwen or Max. Finally, Max spoke when he could catch his breath. “Did he seriously just say ‘lickety split’?”

 

Gwen laughed. “Yeah, he did.”

 

There was a silence again. “Do you think he’s actually going to be okay?”

 

Gwen waited a long time before answering.

 

“If he is, I’ll consider it a miracle.”

 

——

 

David did, in fact, return with whoever had lived there. They came out of the front door a minute or so afterward. The house’s owner had discarded their coat, revealing the red spots that covered their face. Both of the them came out gasping and coughing, with David stumbling to where Gwen and Max stood before immediately falling. 

 

Gwen caught him, though lifting him up, she couldn’t say that he had come out scotch free. His face burned cherry red, his eyes set to match. His breaths sat shallow, and when Max asked him if he was okay, all he could offer was a quiet, wheezing “yes”   
  


Like that was at all convincing. 

 

She stood him up, and they started to walk away from the trailer onwards. They glanced back towards the homeowner, who had started to pace around on the other side of the yard. However, just a bit to the side was something much more interesting.

 

The entire trailer had gone up in flames. The exterior had been lit up, and the building itself had started to turn into ash. They quickly turned back and started walking, only getting as far as to the edge of the small forest from earlier before David stopped. 

 

Max and Gwen turned to look at him, confusion evident on their faces. David simply coughed, breath wheezing and short, face turning redder than it already was.

 

And then, he collapsed onto the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOO were we cutting it close with this one. Mostly because I had wayy too much to do this week and I wanted to bring this chapter in a million different ways. I ended up settling on whump because. Come on. You can see my account name, you know what we're about here. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 5

****

David woke up to Max leaning over him and Gwen pacing behind him, mumbling something incomprehensible. “He’s awake.” Max said, as if it was more of an annoyance than a relief. He stepped aside, leaving way for Gwen to sit him up.

 

There was a silence, with David taking heavy breaths of the clean air outside. Finally after David looked like he was no longer in danger of immediate dying, Gwen sighed and spoke. “You’re a dumbass, I hope you realize that.”

 

David gave a sheepish nod. Gwen started to pace again, and Max would have sworn her shoes had started to carve a dent into the dirt. “Right. There’s no way there are any kind of doctors around here, so just, um, take deep breaths or something.” she said, anxiety sitting in her tone. She stopped walking for a moment, burying her face in her hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have any kind of first aid training, I don’t have any kind of equipment to treat you, I-”

 

“Hey, it’s okay.” David said, voice soft.

 

Gwen turned to face him, tears threatening to fall. “No, it’s not! You almost died, and you might still, and it’ll be my fault if you do! All of this because you wanted to save…” she sighed. “I’ll have to go back to help them. It’s not too far, I’ll be right back.”

 

David tried to interrupt, but Gwen quickly starting talking again. She turned to Max. “Watch over him.” she pointed at David, looking between the two of them. “Neither of you do anything stupid. I don’t want to find anyone dead when I get back.”

 

She turned to start walking, heart nearly stopping at the sight of the house nearly burnt to a crisp. She looked around frantically, breathing a sigh of relief before sprinting to go see the stranger, who had escaped out towards the forest. 

 

She tried to give a reassuring smile as she approached, with her obviously looking skittish at the trees’ edge. “Hello?”

 

Now that she had gotten closer, she was able to better make out her features. She had on a worn t-shirt of a band that had long since disbanded under the coat. She assumed it was passed down, as she didn’t recognize the name at all. She had short hair that seemed like it hadn’t been washed in quite a while, though I suppose with it being the apocalypse, she couldn’t blame her. 

 

She turned to face Gwen, untensing a bit, but still remaining on guard. “What?”

 

“I just wanted to come see if you were okay.”  _ Obviously she wasn’t okay, her house just burned down! Now she has nowhere to go, in addition to everything else that’s gone wrong in this hellhole, and- _

 

“I’ll be alright” she said, starting to calm down as she realized Gwen wouldn’t be any threat. “What happened to my house was… unfortunate, to say the least. But, I’m not hurt at all, so I’ll be okay.”

 

Gwen sighed. “That’s good, I suppose. I still feel bad about your house though…” She paused for a moment. “Oh! What if you came along with us, just for a bit. We can walk to the next town, and we can find you a new house! You know, in apology for burning down the other one.” She sounded optimistic, to the point where even Gwen herself was surprised. 

 

The woman seemed shocked by the offer at first, hesitating for a while before speaking again. “That’d be wonderful. Thank you.” she said, smiling. “I never asked, what’s your name?”

 

“Gwen,” she said, relief flooding her.

 

“Nice to meet you.” she said. “I’m Irene.”

 

Gwen smiled as well. “Nice to meet you too.”

 

——

 

They reached where David and Max were fairly quickly. They had talked the entire way there, discussing where they’ve come from and where they’ve been. Something about Irene made Gwen trust her. She was laughing—a genuine laugh—when they reached where they were before. The smile dropped from her face in a moment, adopting the at-least-somewhat-stressed look she normally wore. “What happened when I was gone? Did you guys get in trouble or something? I don’t trust that you didn’t, so-”

 

Max cut her off. “Nothing happened. Calm down.” he pointed at David “He’s just been sitting and breathing while I watched to make sure he didn’t die.”

 

David looked up, eyes landing on Irene. “Oh, who’s this?”

 

“It’s the woman whose house we burned down.” 

 

He took in a sharp breath before starting to get up, pushing off the ground with far more effort than was necessary, almost springing up. There was an awkward silence for too long before Gwen cut in. “Let’s get going then? We need to get somewhere to sleep before the sun goes down, not to mention getting Irene a place to stay.”

 

David gave a small nod of agreement before they all started off, the sun already starting to go down, but still high in the sky. David and Max led near the front, while Gwen stayed towards the back, talking with Irene.

 

“So, you’re from Landow?”

 

“Yeah. It wasn’t an especially big town, but everyone knew each other pretty well. I had to leave when I was like 13 though, so I don’t really remember everyone that well.”

 

Irene seemed confused, thinking over what Gwen had said for a good, long moment before responding. “Why did you have to leave?”

 

Gwen took a long time to answer. She looked like she was racking her brain for the memory, or maybe for an excuse, but she ended up finding something because she spoke, voice just shaky enough to be noticable.

 

“Landow was the town the disease hit first. I don’t really know where it came from, I just remember hearing my parents talking about some people that live there getting sick and one day they just,” she paused, clearing her throat and trying to blink away tears. “They gave me my stuff and told me I needed to get as far away from there as I could. I know they were protecting me, but-”

 

And the next thing she knew, Irene was hugging her. “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s not your fault.” Still, she returned the hug.

 

When they seperated, Irene offered a small smile, which Gwen hesitantly returned as well. They noticed that they were quite a bit behind David and Max, so they sped up until they were closer, and started talking again. 

 

The sun started to set, the sky burning on the horizon as they started to approach another seemingly deserted town that stood in the distance. Gwen turned to Irene, a tired and  _ happy  _ smile sitting on her face. 

 

“I’m glad I got to talk to you.” she said, words half mumbled and slurred together.

 

“I’m glad we’re friends.” Irene said.

 

Gwen didn’t know how to answer that. Were they friends? She almost stopped where she stood, and she might have if not for the sinking sun. After what seemed like far too long of a silence, silence that is more awkward than comfortable, she figured out how to respond.

 

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who almost didn't get this out and wrote most of it the night before I posted it again? I had finals this week, but I'm free all of this week and next week, so those chapters should be good. Also, I wrote this OC and I intended for her to be nameless and faceless in one chapter but I got too attached to her and whoops. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


	6. Chapter 6

They reached the town right as the sun had fallen behind the horizon, the sky fading from a brilliant show of oranges and reds and blinding yellows to a softer, dark sky with twinkling lights across it. Most of the houses were empty, long since deserted, bodies buried or burned depending on who found them. There was one house far down the road, one in which a peculiar sight emerged.

 

The lights were on.

 

Whenever all of the members of a house were gone, the lights went out. No matter who it was, the last person to be in a house turns off all of the lights and cleans out any trace of the disease left. And yet, the lights were on in this house. They all glanced at each other, a silent understanding, and they started out towards the house. 

 

David went up to the door, hesitantly knocking on it. Very quickly, as if whoever had lived there was standing by it, the door swung open, almost hitting David on the way. He looked down, seeing a woman standing significantly lower than him. He backed away, joining the rest of the group. The woman that stood in the doorway was rather short, obviously, hair more gray than otherwise, looking up at David with thick, round glasses that covered a large part of her face. “Hello?” she said.

 

“Hello!” David said, automatically placing on a smile. “We saw that your lights were on, and we just wanted to check it out! It’s so nice to find another person out here!” 

 

“Nice to see you too!” she said “It’s been a while since anyone has been here, I must say. Please, come in, come in!”

 

She stepped aside, and David entered with no hesitation. Max, Gwen, and Irene waited for a long moment, trying to decipher if this woman was really as safe as she seemed, before entering themselves. 

 

The woman closed the door after everyone was in, gesturing for them to sit down at her table. The house had a warm and homey feeling to it. The table they were sat at had enough chairs to fit a family, despite the fact that she lived alone. Max had a good idea of why, and he was sure that everyone else did too, but didn’t bring it up for everyone’s good.

 

The woman brewed a pot of tea, carrying over detailed china as it boiled. She placed down a cup of her own at the one empty seat, busying herself until the tea was ready. She poured some into each of their cups, sitting down. 

 

“Welcome!” She said with a soft smile “I’m Deanna, and I hope you can make yourselves at home here.”

 

Most of the tension in the room had disappeared, though there was still the lingering suspicious that always stayed. They went around the table introducing themselves, the cups of tea being quickly drank, regardless of who it was served to. The promise of any kind of liquid was wonderful. Sure, they’d been tapping into the supply of food and water David had taken from his house, as well as getting those things from wherever else they could, but after a long day of walking, it felt like heaven.

 

“So, what brought you here?” Deanna said after everyone finished introducing themselves.

 

Irene spoke first. “We were looking for a place to stay for the night,” she said “And I was, maybe, wondering if I could stay here longer?”

 

Deanna didn’t answer,  trying to figure out exactly what she had said. After a long while, she finally did. “Oh, of course! I’d love some more company here.”

 

Irene smiled, and everyone seemed much more relaxed. They chatted more, washed the teacups, and set up the bedroom to stay the night. The room was set up with two bunk beds, reminding Gwen of sleepovers that she would watch in old movies, before the disease happened, before being sent away happened, before she grew up and realized that her friends and family are probably all dead and burned happened, before jaded happened, before-

 

She longed for an earlier time, one with sleepovers on movies and wishing for the same.  She looked at the beds, where Irene had set up on the top bunk. She climbed the ladder, sitting at the foot of the bed. Irene paused for a moment, confused as to why she was up there before sitting next to her.    
  


Gwen was silent for a long time, simply sitting next to Irene, not saying a word. “I’m really going to miss you.” she said finally.

 

“I’m gonna miss you too.” Irene said. She paused for a moment, and you could almost see the light bulb go off in her head. “Oh! You can stay here!”

 

“What?” To say Gwen was caught off guard would be an understatement.

 

“You can stay here, with me! All of you can! It’ll be great! We can stay here, and have a home, and we won’t have to worry about surviving every second! We can just live! And be happy!” she was incredibly excited, and Gwen could see why. It was an exciting idea. An  _ enticing  _ idea. It seemed perfect. At first glance, there would be no reason not to.

 

They could all stay in a nice house, with company she loved. She wouldn’t have to go back to the warehouse at the end of the day. She wouldn’t have to be skittish at every sound. She wouldn’t have to worry about  _ him _ , or any kind of danger, for that matter. 

 

And then she caught sight of Max.

 

She remembered the disease, the red creeping up from out of his hoodie up towards his neck, the note David had told her about that he had seemed so desperate to believe.

 

She remembered David. She remembered him walking through the wasteland to find her. She remembered her first reaction to meeting him was to almost kill him, and how somehow that he’d manage to get her to trust him in such a short time.

 

She remembered how much she liked them. How much she liked being around them, how much she enjoyed their company. She remembered how safe and _happy_ she had been, something she hadn’t been in _such_ a long time. 

 

Irene was looking at her expectantly. Gwen took a deep breath. “That sounds like a great offer, it really does. And hopefully someday, I can take you up on it.” She sighed. “But I can’t.”

 

Irene didn’t say anything, only looked confused at what she had said. And so, Gwen kept talking. “I can’t stay here. I have to go with David and Max to find this antidote. Whether or not it’s real, I need to go in the case that it might be. I’d be betraying myself if I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

 

Irene was staring at the mattress beneath her. She frowned. “I understand. I wish you would stay here, but I can’t stop you if you want to go.” She laid down, and Gwen climbed off from the top bunk to lay on the bottom, trying to get comfortable.

 

She can’t say she slept well that night.

 

——

 

The next morning, they gathered the scarce amount of supplies they’d gotten out during their short stay there. They said their goodbyes, with Gwen hesitating to speak to Irene again. Finally, she gathered up the courage. She couldn’t think of anything more to say at first other than “Goodbye” followed by a small “I’m sorry.”

 

Irene didn’t know how to respond either. “Goodbye.” she said. She waited a long moment. “Hey, if you survive your trip to Calegrave, you have to promise to come visit me again, alright? Let that be an incentive. ‘No dying or Irene will do it for you when you don’t visit.’”

 

Gwen gave a small laugh. “I promise. I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but I really am going to miss you. I like having friends.”

 

“I’m going to miss you too.” she said. She pointed at David and Max. “Besides, if you want friends, you always have them. They’re good ones.”

 

She smiled. “I know.”

 

There was a silence. Out of nowhere, Gwen hugged Irene, as tightly as she could. After the shock wore off, Irene returned it.

 

After goodbyes were done, they left off to find wherever the next town on the way to Calegrave is. Gwen watched David and Max talk to each other, occasionally chipping in herself. Although she’d never admit it to them, Irene was right.

  
They were  _ great  _ friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Support your friends in the apocalypse, kids.

**Author's Note:**

> There's the first chapter of my first multi chaptered fic! Woo! I'll add more tags as the story goes on, as I don't completely know where this is going (whoops.). I don't know much else to saw other than thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!


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